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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

It's getting hot, and ice cream is great on hot days. To keep it healthy for my toddler I make strawberry "don't tell the kids it's not ice cream" frozen berries and yogurt.

If you have a processor this healthy "ice cream" is fast easy and delicious. Just add frozen strawberries plain or with other berries and some yogurt, we used vanilla, and process into ice cream. If it's to thick or more of a Dippin' Dot texture add a little milk.

I love this recipe because it uses frozen strawberries, whenever they go on sale I buy a lot and freeze them, and when we are ready we make this, strawberry topping, or smoothies. What do you use frozen strawberries for?

Friday, June 26, 2015

Independence Day or the 4th of July is next week. I am really looking forward to going to my in-law's home, and going to see the fireworks. My son is two and it will be his first time going to see the fireworks, last year we saw them from afar and he enjoyed them but this year we are going to aim for some front row seats! We are planning to get Independence Day started early in our house because some of these Red, White, and Blue recipes are beckoning to me.

One thing I love about all of these desserts is that they look great and are doable. So you don't have to worry about a Plan B when preparing your special treat for a 4th of July picnic of Independence Day party. What you will have to worry about is running out of the delicious treats early because people come back for more.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Here in California it is hot, hot, hot! And to combat all the heat we've been getting I've rounded up 11 frozen treats sure to keep you cool.

Summer is definitely in full swing even if it just officially started a couple of days ago. These frozen popsicles, push-ups, and pops will help you stay cool in the heat. I consider myself lucky to live in California's dry heat, I've visited my mom out in Missouri for a summer many years ago and thought I might melt faster than the popsicle I was eating!

Stay cool, and stay hydrated, and enjoy all these fun and delicious recipes for a great way to beat the heat.

Monday, June 22, 2015

My husband loves cookies, and so do I. I don't however like making a lot of cookies, mostly because I know I will end up snacking on a lot of cookies. This recipe is super delicious and the cookies come out soft and chewy and you end up with about 12-16 cookies depending on how large you like to make them.

I made these particular cookies last night for Father's Day after my husband and I got back from the California Quilter's Run. It was a long day in the car and the cookies were a nice dessert before heading to bed. I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we did.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: 10

Cook time: 10

Total time: 20

Yield: 12-16 cookies

Ingredients

1/4 CupUnsalted Butter

3/8 CupDark Brown Sugar

3/8 CupSugar

1Large Egg

1/2 TeaspoonVanilla

1 1/8 CupsFlour

3/8 TeaspoonBaking Soda

1/2 TeaspoonSalt

3/4 CupChocolate Chips

Cooking Directions

The ingredients are listed the same way I would make the batter.Preheat your oven to 375. Cream the butter and sugars together (I used room temperature butter to take a lot of the work out of mixing, I just used a fork).

Beat the egg into the butter and sugar mix, add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mix together.

Add flour mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients, mix until the flour is fully incorporated.

Mix in the chocolate chips, add more or less chocolate chips as desired.

Note: 1/4 cup is half a stick of butter, 3/8 is a quarter plus half a quarter.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

If you haven't decided what to make your husband for breakfast on Father's Day, you may want to go with these fluffy waffles.
These waffles are so easy to make that I find myself making them more than once a week, as a bonus you just need a medium size bowl, fork, a measuring spoon and cup, and a waffle iron. They taste amazing plain but my husband likes when I add a scoop of chocolate chips to his and my son likes a couple of blueberries tossed into his. Adding fruit like blueberries can make a bit of a mess in your waffle iron but if you start with your fruit filled waffles you can "clean" the fruit off by making plain waffles.

Waffles are the perfect breakfast food, but I want to try doing fried chicken and waffles sometime soon. With this waffle recipe it's bound to be absolutely delicious!

Add ingredients as listed, I like to beat my eggs lightly prior to adding the additional ingredients. Mix until no large lumps are seen. Pour about 1/2 C to 3/4 C of mix into the waffle iron, close and allow to cook. If your waffle iron does not have a time just watch for steam, when the steam slows, and is almost completely gone your waffle is ready. If you want to add chocolate chips of berries, add the waffle mix toss in the extras and close your waffle iron.

The recipe is supposed to make about 6 waffles, I like big thick waffles so I tend to get between 4 and 5.

Monday, June 15, 2015

I had fresh strawberries when I was making waffles this weekend for a breakfast for dinner, my husband's choice. I love fruit on waffles and to mix it up a little bit I sent my berries through the food processor my mother-in-law gave me.

The texture of the strawberries reminds me of salsa, and you can puree it more or less.

Strawberry Dessert Salsa

Ingredients

10Strawberries

1/5 CSugar

Cooking Directions

Place strawberries in food processor. Process strawberries until they are large chunks. Add sugar, and process until desired consistency.

The recipe is super easy and you can adjust the sugar content more or less depending on how sweet you want your topping. As I said before we put ours on waffles but you can also use it to cover some whipped cream cheese as a graham cracker dip or use it on your strawberry shortcakes with a little bit of whipped cream.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Father's Day is right around the corner. I haven't decided what we are doing yet to celebrate my husband but I think my dad will get one of my Whipped Banana Cream Pies, one of his favorites. If you, like me, haven't decided on what your children are getting or making for Father's Day check out these awesome crafts!

I love all of these ideas! Are you doing anything extra special for Father's Day? We will probably head to The San Diego Zoo followed by a meal of my husband's choosing. Hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Every couple of months my church holds a Newcomer's Dessert. It's a chance for anyone new to the church to learn more about our church, our children's ministry as well as meet and chat with the pastor and his wife. One of the pies I made was this Mississippi Mud Pie and it was quite a hit at the event.

Ingredients:

Pie Dough

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus
extra for dusting

2 T unsweetened cocoa

10 T butter (1 stick and a quarter of a 2nd stick)

2 T sugar

1-2 T cold water

Filling

12 T butter

1 ¾ cups packed brown sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa, sifted

5 ½ oz semisweet chocolate

1 ¼ cups light cream

1 tsp chocolate extract (the true recipe calls for extract, I didn't have any so I added a couple extra teaspoons of cocoa)

Decoration

1 cup whipping cream

2 T sugar

1-2 T cocoa (optional: for a chocolate whipped cream)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375

Dough

Add the butter to bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid) add sugar, slowly add the flour and cocoa, use the water to help incorporate your dough until you have a ball of dough.

Use flour mixed with cocoa to keep the dough from sticking when you roll out the dough. Use the dough to line your pie dish and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325

Filling

Beat the butter and sugar together in a
bowl and gradually beat in the eggs with the cocoa. Melt the
chocolate and beat it into the mix with the
light cream and chocolate extract

Pour the mix into the pie shell and bake for 45 minutes or until the filling has set gently (it will still wiggle slightly)

Whipped Cream

Refrigerate the bowl you plan to use to make your whipped cream, this helps the heavy whipping cream set. Add whipping cream and sugar to bowl and beat on high until stiff peaks form. If desired after whipping cream is set add cocoa.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Banana cream pie is one of my absolute favorite pies. And whipped banana cream pie is simply the best, it is light an airy and I imagine that eating this pie is similar to what it would be like if you at a cloud.

I made this pie over the weekend for a game night and it was a pretty big hit. We did not have any leftover pie and it received quite a bit of praise.

Ingredients:

Filling

1 large box of banana cream pudding (it should require 3 C milk on the package)

1 C milk

2 C heavy whipping cream

2 bananas or more if you prefer

Crust

1 package (approximately 10) graham crackers

3 T butter

Whipped Cream Topping

1 C heavy whipping cream

1 T sugar

1 t vanilla extract

Directions:

Crust:

crush the graham crackers in a closed zipped bag, add melted butter, mix. Press pie crust into bottom of the pan evenly covering, if desired you can make more to add crust to sides of pan.

Filling:

slice bananas and cover bottom and sides of pan.

Beat with a mixer or Kitchen Aid on high speed the pudding mix, milk, and heavy whipping cream.

When the filling begins forming peaks it is ready to be added to the pie.

Spoon the filling into the pie shell and smooth top.

Topping:

In a Kitchen Aid or with beaters mix on high speed the heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla until stiff peaks form.

From here you can spoon and spread the whipping cream or spoon the whipping cream into a frosting bag to decorate your pie.

Friday, June 5, 2015

It's summertime and here are some awesome ideas to get your backyard ready for hosting get
togethers.

Whether you are looking to throw an awesome BBQ party, have an intimate gathering around a fire pit, or need some new garden boxes so you can grow your own food. Check out these fun do it yourself ideas for your backyard! Sprint Summertime is definitely the time that I wish I had a backyard. I dream of backyard BBQ's followed by a movie under the stars, drive in theater style. No matter what you are looking for I hope you have a great summer!